Frampton To Face Santa Cruz or Quigg, Says McGuigan

By Edward Chaykovsky

Manager Barry McGuigan is predicting a very big year for IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (19-0, 13KOs). First he makes a mandatory defense against Chris Avalos (25-2, 19KOs) on February 28th at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

After Avalos, McGuigan is looking to put Frampton in a unification fight with either his unbeaten domestic rival, WBA 'regular' champion Scott Quigg, or undefeated WBC champion Leo Santa Cruz.  

“I believe that 2015 will be a sensational year for Carl Frampton, and I believe that he will beat Avalos and he will beat him in exciting style, and then we will go on to fight Quigg possibly or Leo Santa Cruz. It’s going to be a magnificent year for him,” McGuigan told RTE.

McGuigan says Frampton is very fired for his next fight, courtesy of the trash talk comments which came from Avalos.

“I don’t think he knows what he is letting himself in for,” added McGuigan. “He’s about to walk into the most atmospheric arena in the world, when he comes to the cauldron that is the Odyssey Arena. It’s going to be something that he has never experienced before. Having said that, a ring is a ring and it doesn’t matter where it is, and Carl has to produce the goods, but Carl has been fired up."